Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood is a busy area located about 2 miles East of Downtown on fairly hilly terrain. It is very different however; its main business area is compact and devoid of many highrises. Instead, the neighborhood is the city's core of higher education, dominated by the University of Pittsburgh on the West side (a campus that is integrated with the business core and surrounding cultural facilities and residential areas) and Carnegie Mellon University on the East side (a campus that is mostly insular). Grand historic buildings of the City Beautiful era form much of the core, while historic residential areas of the same time spread to the North and East, continuing to adjacent neighborhoods such as Shadyside and Squirrel Hill. The massive Schenley Park and its steep topography of grassy and leafy slopes and ravines forms the Southeast border. Oakland is such a rich area of notable early 20th Century architecture (as well as a sprinkling of modern buildings) that it deserves two threads; here is Part 1.

Oakland skyline from Carnegie Mellon University campus:

A Song To Nature (fountain sculpture), 1918:

Cathedral of Learning, 1937:
Started in the boom years of the 1920's and slowly finished during the Depression years, this 535-foot tall masterpiece of Art Deco Neo-Gothic is on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh and is the tallest building in the Oakland neighborhood. Its ground-floor main room is called the Commons Room, and several of the first floors surrounding it feature classrooms called the Nationality Rooms that are modeled after the architectural details typical of various countries.

Stephen Foster Memorial, 1937:
Located next to the Cathedral of Learning is this building dedicated to one of the most famous American songwriters of the 19th Century, who grew up in the region. It contains two performing arts theaters and a shrine room dedicated to him, and is part of the University of Pittsburgh campus.

Heinz Chapel, 1938:
The third of three magnificent Neo-Gothic buildings located in this park block on the campus, this pan-denominational chapel was designed by the same architect as the other two: Charles Klauder.

Cathedral of Saint Paul, 1906:

First Baptist Church of Pittsburgh, 1912:

Bellefield Presbyterian Church (built as First United Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh), 1899:

Shadyside Presbyterian Church, 1890:
This is in the neighborhood of Shadyside, bordering Oakland.

Central Catholic High School, 1927:

Bellefield Hall (built as Young Men's and Women's Hebrew Association), 1924:
This is now part of the University of Pittsburgh campus and houses offices, and auditorium, and fitness facilities.

Fairfax Apartments, 1926:

Iroquois Building, 1903:
This contains ground floor retail and upper offices for the University of Pittsburgh, but was originally built as apartments.

William Pitt Union (built as Schenley Hotel), 1898:
This building houses many of the University of Pittsburgh's student organizations and features an event space in the ground-floor lobby.

Schenley Quad (built as Schenley Apartments), 1924:
This multi-building complex houses many of the University of Pittsburgh's dorms, occupying a former apartment development.

College of Fine Arts Building:
This building forms one end of the formal grassy mall known as The Cut that is the center of the Carnegie Mellon University campus. The first picture here is of its backside, seen from a rooftop sculpture garden on an adjacent low modern building.

The Cut:
This view is from the front of the College of Fine Arts Building and shows the formal axis of the original core of Carnegie Mellon University, built in the early years of the 20th Century.

Hamerschlag Hall:
Terminating The Cut is this Carnegie Mellon University building, which has a modern addition on its backside that acts as a visual pedestal for the historic building when viewed from the Carnegie Museums' property across a ravine.

Margaret Morrison Hall, 1906:
Also on the Carnegie Mellon University campus, this building was originally built as the university's vocational school for women.

Rodef Shalom Temple, 1907:

Frick Fine Arts Building, 1965!:
There is a fair amount of Neo-Italian palazzo buildings in the area, but this one on the edge of the University of Pittsburgh campus is rather surprising for its time period.

Allen Hall (built as Mellon Institute of Industrial Research), 1914:
This is another building at the University of Pittsburgh, this one housing the Physics and Astronomy Department.

Mellon Institute of Industrial Research, 1937:
This successor building to the previous pictured building is part of Carnegie Mellon University although it is surrounded by University of Pittsburgh buildings and is far removed from its own campus on the other side of Oakland. It is a rather austere example of the Classical Moderne style popular with the Federal government at the time.

Not a day goes by that I'm not thankful for the fantastic view of the Cathedral of Learning I have from my townhouse on the Slopes!

Aaron (Glowrock)

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"The three most beautiful cities in the world are Paris, St. Petersburg & Pittsburgh. If Pittsburgh were situated somewhere in the heart of Europe tourists would eagerly journey hundreds of miles out of their way to visit it." The New Yorker Jan. 9, 1989

My favorite University in the US. No other can say they have this amazing 535ft tall skyscraper masterpiece on their campus! I think I take growing up and living right by Pittsburgh for granted sometimes but I know deep down that I was really lucky especially after traveling so much and learning urban geography at the college level.